Spring snow creating challenges for Longmont wildlife center

Cold temps led to thinner animals, unusual migration patterns

LONGMONT -- Last year's drought followed by record-breaking snowfall this spring has created additional challenges for the staff and animals at the Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.

The drought and excessive moisture had similar effects on local vegetation making it difficult for wildlife to find food, according to the center's staff.

The first babies began arriving at the center in mid-February, many of them thinner and in smaller litters than previous years, training coordinator Mimi Gillatt said.

"If these storms came in January, all these animals hunker down... but by April most of them are having babies or they're trying to set up nests so they're using a lot more calories," Gillatt said. "They were hoping for buds coming out on trees, which a lot of them will eat and the buds were delayed because of the storms."

The delayed blooms cause animals to migrate farther than normal, sending them across busy streets where many are injured or killed, she said.

About two weeks ago, dozens of mountain bluebirds that were migrating north for the summer died near Fort Collins from freezing temperatures.

Despite the hardships this year, staff said the center is staying busy with new babies including 10 birds, seven raccoons, five foxes, about 18 bunnies, 65 squirrels, a coyote and the center's newest patient, a goose.

Altered migration patterns due to the spring snow have brought some unusual animals to the area this spring.

Horned larks, mountain bluebirds and Lapland longspurs are a few of the atypical birds seen at the center this year.

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"We have this drop down of species in our database and suddenly we have a lot of animals that aren't in that drop down because we've never had them before," executive director Linda Tyler said.

The center was able to accommodate squirrels outside of Boulder County for the first time in several years due to the unusually small litters, Tyler said.

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